MIDI technology has been a stable source of piano and music sequencing programs for editing, printing, playing and composing music for almost twenty years. Some early, relatively primitive music and piano tutorial programs, as well as some games, have resulted from this technology. For example, some types of computer aided instruction, including piano instruction, have been used in the home market for several years.
In the area of music instruction, the computer has been used, for the most part, to provide a student with an interactive view of musical notation, where the student can press a key on the accompanying electronic piano and it will light up the note, or the note will light up and a drawing will indicate which key he should press. Other systems have a series of lights or fingering illustrations to attempt to communicate to the user which key should be played next. These programs and systems, while allowing the student to practice and obtain feedback, generally fail to involve musical novices sufficiently, especially with regard to rhythm. Several typing tutorials have enjoyed great success using such methods, but piano and music tutorials have not been as successful, due to several significant problems inherent with the subject.
A major problem with these prior art learning systems is that they fail to take into account several important differences between learning to type and learning to play music. The first and most obvious difference is that musical notes cannot merely be played in a correct sequence, but must be played in a rhythmic pattern in relation to the notes before and after it. The correct timing of the notes is one of the most difficult aspects to teach in music, by any technique; and up to now few applications have been able to adequately address this challenge, and then only in isolation from other concepts. The second challenge is that most programs start with musical notation to teach a song to the user. Reading and understanding musical notation is a bit like reading Beowolf in the Old English, and it's roots are just as old. The five line staff originally represented a monk's hand in the Middle Ages, and has been adapted to deal with all the musical innovations since.
There is also the problem of a vertically oriented notational system originally designed to convey pitch for voice (hence the concepts of higher and lower). But on the piano, pitch is experienced horizontally (i.e. perpendicularly to the notation—left to right instead of lower to higher). This difference, while conceptually easy, is a difficult transition for students to make, both visually and experientially. The combined difficulty is such that fewer than 20 percent of all piano players are estimated to be able to read music fluently.
For the novice player, then, there are at least four additional challenges to learning the piano compared to learning to type. They must learn the keys to the piano, they must learn musical notation, the notation is perpendicular to their piano, and they must hit the right key(s) at the right time. The frustration at these simultaneous challenges causes most users to quit, and makes the task seems more like work than play.
Examples of prior patents in the general area of music instruction are outlined below. Each of these references is incorporated by reference in their entirety.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,182 to Wise, et al. discloses a keyboard teaching device for the self-instruction of a student of keyboard musical instruments. They system enables the student to correlate the positions of the keys on a musical instrument keyboard with the positions of the notes on a musical scale. A keyboard having a plurality of keys corresponding to the notes of a musical scale generate a first set of control signals in an initialization or set-up mode and key-note correlation signals in an instruction or game mode. There is at least one storage element storing a predetermined combination of logical signals providing a source for a pseudo random sequence of one or more notes over a predetermined range in the game mode. The system generates a second set of control signals in response to the actuation of one or more keys in either game mode and a mechanism for generating audio tones and displaying video images in accordance with the first and second sets of control signals enables a student to visually and audibly check his or her selection of one or more keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,398 to Monte, et al. discloses an apparatus and method for instruction of a student which includes interactive guidance of the student through a series of lesson frames. This disclosure provides the student with a keyboard having a plurality of keys corresponding to the notes of a musical scale and generates a key relation signal in response to each depressed or released key. A video display and an audio tone generator associated therewith enables the student to respond to the visually displayed images and audio tones by selecting one or more of the keys on the keyboard. The student is presented with a lesson frame representing an instructional activity requiring a response by the student on the keyboard. The student keyboard response is compared with a performance standard and an absolute performance evaluation result in generated. The absolute performance evaluation result is compared with an acceptable achievement level for the particular instructional activity and a next frame selection signal is generated. A next frame is selected for presentation to the student based upon the next frame selection signal.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,374 to Simone discloses a teaching device that includes a changeable two channel prerecorded program source, and a console unit including a work booklet. The first channel of the program source includes an audio program comprising a series of spoken words which are audibly reproduced by the console unit and the second channel includes a series of control signals which are operative for actuating lights adjacent prespecified words in the work booklet. The operation of the console unit is coordinated with the audio program so that lights are actuated adjacent to the words in the work booklet as the same words are audibly reproduced by a console unit. One embodiment of the device further includes a plurality of depressible user response buttons on the console unit for indicating responses to questions presented in the audio program.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,781,099 to Koike discloses a musical quiz apparatus that presents a question chord in sound and a trainee answers by depressing the keys of the chord constituting notes on the keyboard. The apparatus is capable of generating a plurality of different chord data respectively representing chords, and generates a question chord datum one at a time more or less randomly selected from among those different chord data and produces sounds of notes which constitutes a chord designated by the question chord data. When the answer is correct, points are added up and a next question chord is presented.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,392,682 to McCartney-Hoy discloses a computerized musical keyboard and a method for using same to play or to learn to play a piano. The computerized musical keyboard includes a piano keyboard connected to a computer. The computer is programmed to select from a music module a piece of music to be played on the piano and to generate a signal indicating the proper keys to be played, the correct sequence in which the keys are to be played, and the hand and finger to be used in striking each key, in order to play on the piano the piece of music selected.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,743 to Decker discloses a piano teaching aid having a panel designed to fit over the keys on an existing keyboard so that lights mounted on a panel having more than one color or shape may be located directly above the piano keys to be played. The lights have more than one color or shape in order to distinguish the hand which the user will use to play the piano. The panel also includes a finder window which displays an alphanumeric code which corresponds to a like code appearing next to the score of music to be played. A foot pedal advancing mechanism is used whereby the user can control the speed which the lights display the keys to be struck, using the Foot Pedal to advance one action. The display also can show the music to be played at a tempo set by the user automatically changing from action to action without using the pedal. The panel articulates so that it may be stretched in one or more places so that it can fit over various dimensions of keyboards without interfering with keys to be played.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,062 to Rogers discloses an apparatus for visually displaying music notes on a note display panel mounted on an electronic piano with a support arm. The electronic piano has a keyboard electrically coupled to an electronic circuit operable to produce an audio output in accordance with the depression of one or more keys. The arm is rotatable in a mount attached to the piano for movement about a first upright axis. A first motion limiting unit attached to the mount and arm limits the rotation of the arm about the piano. A second motion limiting unit attached to the panel and this arm limits rotation of the panel about an upright axis relative to the arm. A modified structure has the arm fixed to the piano. The panel has grand staff indicia coordinated with vertically disposed first light mechanisms corresponding to chord note information with a second light mechanism diagonally corresponding to ascending note scale information. A keyboard representation is located below the staff indicia. A third light mechanism associated with the piano key indicia of the keyboard representation is coordinated with the second light mechanism to provide visual information as to the keys depressed on the electronic piano. An electric circuit having on-off switches electrically couples the electronic piano with the first, second, and third lights so that the lights can be selectively operated. The electronic circuit has a switch assembly having a plurality of key signature switches operable to coordinate the first, second, and third lights with the piano keyboard in accordance with the key signature of the music that is played.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,366,741 to Titus discloses an electronic piano having a keyboard and an electronic piano circuit connected to a micro-processor used to control a CRT device to provide a video note display concurrently with the depression of one or more keys. A keyboard representation located adjacent the screen of the CRT device is associated with lights used to indicate the key or keys that are played. Manually operated controls cooperate with the micro-processor to allow the back clearing of the screen one note at a time, remove all the notes, retain all the notes, indicate sharp or flat mode of each note, and indicate the duration that a key is depressed by elongating the note on the screen. A metronome unit is used with the micro-processor to provide a visual beat marker on the screen that sequentially moves across the screen. A movable frame connects the CRT device to the piano.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,864,868 to Contois discloses a computer system and method for controlling a media playing device. The system provides a user interface for allowing a user access to media pieces stored in a media database. The interface is also for controlling a media playing device, like a player piano or movie playing video device, that is coupled to the computer to play the accessed or selected piece of media. In one embodiment there is a computer interface that allows a user to display only music that relates to a selected category, like jazz or classical music. Another embodiment allows the user to direct the media playing device to automatically play selected music pieces that are related to a selected music category. Another embodiment allows a user to direct the media playing device to automatically play selected music pieces that are related to the selected music composer or artist.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,204,441 to Asahi et al. discloses techniques for displaying musical information and particularly for visually displaying musical notes, beats and tempos using personal computers or game devices that run musical software programs. The disclosure teaches the use of different colors and different brightnesses to distinguish certain types of musical notation. It has a display screen which shows both base and treble clefs as well as the keyboard and timing indication.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,181 to Moe shows computer graphics animation, used with a live video interactive method for playing keyboard music while the user guides his fingers to the keys targeted by the animation with each key to be struck within one beat of time is designated by a colored “sprite”.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,791 to Renard et al. shows a system for instructing the playing of a musical instrument, displaying an image on the display device, and instructing the student to focus on the image while preferably using a musical instrument to play the notes on the staff.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,540,132 to Hale shows techniques for teaching musical notation to children. Each note is associated with the distinctly identifiable color which is then associated with an object which naturally occurs in this color. They utilize cartoon characters which apparently enhances association within the mind of the child.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,433 to Nishimoto et al. shows an electronic musical instrument having performance guidance function, performance guidance method, and storage medium storing a program therefore with a plurality of display devices arranged in association with the performance operating elements, respectively, each comprising a pair of display elements corresponding to left and right hands of the player, respectively.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,961 to Kimmel, Jr. shows a system of musical notes with the notes being associated with a color and utilizes stickers for application to the keys of the musical instrument to correspond to the colors of the note which it plays.